Of Monsters and Men
by jburk40
Summary: Percy Jackson's life had been upturned by a recent series of unfortunate events. His mom was gone, and he'd just found out his dad was the Greek God Poseidon. He didn't think his life could get any crazier than that. Then the body fell out of the sky.


**I'll keep this brief. New Story. It's a triple crossover which I know will turn most people away. Will be split into two parts. Not gonna say what the third crossover is cause I wanna see if anyone can guess it. Pairing is kinda up in the air right now but it won't, and I can't stress this enough, be a harem. Please don't ask.** _ **Please.**_

 **Wanna say a quick thanks to PlaguedAmbition for looking this over for me. Also wanna say thanks to everyone else who gave me advice when I asked.**

 **So without further ado, let's get this shit-show started.**

 **Disclaimer:**

 **I don't own shit**

* * *

 _She stood before the mirror, blonde hair pulled back into a loose ponytail, brown eyes scanning the figure lying in the bed on the other side. He was unconscious, his form covered in bruises and welts, gashes and gouges, lacerations and abrasions. He looked terrible, worse than she'd ever seen him._

 _But mostly, he looked content. And that was all that mattered. The smile on his face, calm and happy, let her know everything she needed. It was indeed him — of that there was no doubt._

 _A cane tapped its way down the hallway and drew her attention away from the boy — man — in the room. The perpetrator of the noise rounded the corner, his weathered features holding in a commanding aura, his lone eye landing on her._

 _The sharpness of it caught her off guard, but she managed to regain her composure before he noticed._

" _Don't worry, I won't bite."_

 _Or so she thought. With a silent growl at the man's perceptiveness she turned to face him fully. She stood taller than him but that didn't make her feel any better. He carried an aura that made those around him feel smaller and she was no exception._

 _She was grateful, though, that his attention had shifted to the person in the next room._

" _Is it him?" he asked._

" _We haven't had time to run any tests since he was brought in from the main gate so we can't be sure," she replied, hoping that would satisfy him._

" _Is it him?" he asked again._

 _Of course it wouldn't. He had turned to face her at this point, an expecting look in his eyes. She released a sigh at the look. This was becoming, for lack of a better word, troublesome._

" _Yes," she replied._

" _Good." He had turned around and was making his way back down the hallway he came from._

" _Where are you going now?" she questioned._

" _To see about the other one."_

 _Of course he was. She shouldn't be surprised by that. The old man had always had an interest in that boy._

 _Once his weathered form rounded the corner she turned back to the figure on the other side of the glass._

" _Wake up soon, Naruto."_

 _(Prologue End)_

* * *

Falling was weird. Not the good kind of weird. It's like when you put on a sock and find a hole near the toe. You're disappointed and know you should take it off, but at the same time you can't help but wriggle your toe out of it.

Naruto felt the wind rushing through his hair, his clothes flapping wildly as he fell. He felt the knot of his headband come undone, the weight flying off his head and into the wind. He wanted to reach up and grab it, but he couldn't. His arms were like lead, refusing to move when he wanted them to.

He knew he should have felt somethingat the loss of the item, but he didn't — more accurately _couldn't._ He was too tired.

Gravity continued to pull his body down, the ground under him getting closer with every passing second. He had a vague sense of what would happen when he hit the ground. Something about bursting like an egg that spent too much time in the microwave.

He didn't care.

The tiredness was too much now so he decided to give in to it. That sounded much better than staying awake.

~XxX~

The beach that led out into the Long Island Sound was quiet. The gentle and methodic rhythm of the waves washing onto the shore and then back out to sea again brought him comfort as it always had in the past. In the back of his mind he always wondered why that was, but now he didn't have to.

After all, why wouldn't the son of Poseidon be comforted by the sea?

A small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes made its way onto his face. There was just something so damn _funny_ about it.

He'd finally found a place where he felt that he fit in, a place where he could make friends, a place where he could _belong_. Too bad the cost of that had been his mom. She had died in her effort to get him to this place. This place where he could be with others like him.

Though, there wasn't really anyone like him was there? Children of the Big Three weren't exactly common. They were seen as heralds of destruction after all. And that just made things even funnier.

The others at camp were avoiding him now, their eyes refusing to meet his when he passed them. The kids' from Cabin Eleven didn't acknowledge him when he called out a greeting. It seemed the only one who did give him the time of day was Annabeth. She would send him glares and looks of distrust whenever they were in the same area. He wasn't sure why, but he knew it was something beyond him being some sort of bad omen and super monster magnet.

He hadn't seen Grover since the identity of his Olympian parent had been revealed. He wondered if the satyr was avoiding him — afraid Percy would bring the apocalypse down on them.

He hoped not. He didn't know what he'd do if his best friend never spoke to him again.

The gentle pad of bare feet on sand brought Percy out of his quiet musing. He turned his head and watched as Luke Castellan leisurely made his way closer. He stopped about five feet away from Percy before turning to look out at the ocean.

They stayed like that for awhile, the son of Hermes gazing out at the ocean and the son of Poseidon watching him.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Luke asked, eyes still facing forward.

Percy shifted his own eyes to look back out at the water. "I guess," he replied. His eyes went back to watching Luke.

"They're jealous, you know?" he responded after a time. When Percy didn't reply he continued, "Most take years to get claimed, if they even do at all. For you, who hasn't been here all that long, to get claimed so suddenly…" he trailed off looking lost on how to continue.

Percy kept watching him in silence as Luke frowned. When it looked like the older boy was gonna give up he replied, "I thought they were afraid of me. I'm some sort of bad omen or something right?"

Luke turned to look at Percy, his blue eyes meeting Percy's sea-green. "I'm sure some are," he said, "but who cares? I may not have known you all that long, but I can tell that you're a good person. With a little bit of time I'm sure the others will come to see that too."

Percy stared at him, a smile that _did_ reach his eyes making its way onto his face. "Thanks Luke," he replied. "I needed to hear that."

Luke let out a hum before sticking his hands in the pockets of his shorts and turning around to walk away. "No problem," he said over his shoulder. "Now if you're done moping why don't we go get in a little training, hmm?"

"You go on ahead. I'll catch up in a little bit," Percy said, turning his head back toward the ocean.

"If you say so," Luke replied and with that he was gone leaving Percy alone on the beach once again.

The smile stayed on Percy's face as he sat on the beach and continued to watch the ocean. He felt better after his talk with Luke. The idle tranquility of the beach was helping too.

In hindsight, he should have expected something would happen. When the shape broke through the clouds he stared, not truly comprehending what he was seeing.

When the realization that the shape was in fact a human body hit, the body went head first into the ocean.

Without truly thinking about what he was doing, Percy dove in after it.

~XxX~

 _Drip. Drip. Drip._

Naruto groaned as the liquid continued to fall on his face. It was an annoyance he didn't want to deal with at the moment. All he wanted to do was stay where he was and sleep.

 _Drip. Drip. Drip._

But of course, life wouldn't give him what he wanted. It hadn't done so before, so why start now right?

He groaned as he opened his eyes to the pipe-lined ceiling. He stared at it for a moment, hoping that he was just dreaming.

 _Drip. Drip. Drip._

Nope. Not dreaming.

With a small frown, he began the process of picking himself up off the flooded floor. If there was one silver lining to dark and dreary sewer that caged his own personal demon, it was that the ankle-deep water on the floor never got him wet. He didn't know why, but he was grateful for it. Wet clothes were awful.

On his feet now, he turned his head in the direction of the beast. He didn't know why he was in the seal this time, but he knew it did. With a sigh, he began the walk towards the beast.

It wasn't a long walk by any means, but the constant _drip, drip, drip,_ of the pipes and the sameness of the walls around him made it seem so.

Another sigh escape him when he walked out of the tunnel and into the large room that housed the beast. The large gate on the other side of the room was his destination. Each step he took toward his destination served to make him more and more nervous. His previous encounters with it hadn't been the most pleasant and he had no doubt this time would be no different.

The echoes of his footsteps ended when he stopped in front of the doors keeping the beast caged. He couldn't see it within, its body covered in the deep shadows of the cage.

He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before yelling, "Hey fox! What the hell happened? Why am I here?"

He stood there waiting. The beast within made no move to respond, so he opened his mouth to yell again.

He took an involuntary step back as the fox snapped its red eyes open, giant white teeth revealing themselves as its lips pulled back into a snarl.

Naruto watched dumbfounded as the fox rose with a deliberate slowness that only something on the top of the food chain could possess. It was huge, at least half the height of the ginormous bars to its cage. Once it reached its full height, the creature prowled forward and into the dim lighting of the sewer.

This was his first time seeing it in all its glory. Before all that was seen were its menacing eyes and deadly teeth, but now?

Now he saw all of it.

It had a face in the shape of a fox, with orange and black fur. The black patches originated around the beast's eyes and went all the way up into its long, rabbit-like ears. It possessed a humanoid upper body and torso connected to fox-like legs and nine long tails.

Fear gripped Naruto's heart. This was what he kept locked away inside himself? This was what he cockily approached and demanded payment from?

He really _was_ a special kinda stupid.

Naruto took a deep breath and succumbed to what his base instincts were telling him.

He turned around and ran. Ran like he'd never ran before. Into the dark and winding tunnels he went, further and further away from it.

Behind him the Kyuubi's lips pulled back even further, this time in its version of a smile.

As he ran he could hear the beast's mocking laughter echo out behind him.

" **Run little Uzumaki. Run. Run for as long as you can because one day you'll be back. And when that day inevitably comes… I'll be here. Waiting. Biding my time. And once you've taken enough of my power, I'll break out of this pitiful prison. So run, boy. Because one day, you'll return. You always do.** "

Naruto only ran harder.


End file.
